I didn’t see the series first run because I didn’t have HBO. When AMC ran it, I also thought something went wrong with my DVR. Dummy- I didn’t think to look it up online and waited until the series ran all the way through the second time.
Being obsessive about such things, I’ve read the extensive online discussions about what happened to Tony. I agree that what happened to Tony is clear... he was whacked by the guy in the Members Only jacket. I think I would have presented it differently, but I made my peace with the way it was done. What remains unclear, though, is the fate of the leftovers of “the best onion rings in the state.” However I doubt they remained edible after the unfortunate occurrence
The only way that the screen going suddenly black is indicative that Tony was whacked only works if the camera was showing Tony’s point of view. But that’s not how the scene was shot.
You’d better explain it to David Chase.
“So the point of the scene is not ‘they whacked him in the diner?’ “ the author asked. “It’s that he could have been whacked?”
“Yes, that he could have been whacked in the diner,” Chase said. “We all could be whacked in a diner. That was the point of the scene. He could have been whacked.”
Later in the interview, Zoller Seitz asked Chase how he responds to fans who are sure Tony died in the diner – and if they are “incorrect.”
“I don’t know if that’s my job,” Chase said. “They’ve interpreted the scene that way. That should be a good thing, that there’s different interpretations.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/5347511002
There was also a guy in a Carhartt vest and a USA hat...